Geography in the Secondary Grammar and Comprehensive Schools of England and Wales: A Brief Appraisal.

Wise, John H.

This generalized appraisal is based on two studies, one of related literature and of General Certificate of Education examination regulations and papers on geography. The other, an investigation carried out in the schools in 1968, included sending a part one questionnaire to each geography department head and a part two questionnaire to each teacher devoting one-half or more of his teaching to the subject (Appendix A). This investigation shows, in terms of time allocation in curricula, teacher qualifications, facilities available, or any other major indicative factor, that the general position of geography in one kind of school does not differ greatly from that in another. (Appendix B). Four major characteristics of geography in English secondary grammar and comprehensive schools are: 1) geography is an important subject in the curricula; 2) geography teaching is a profession in which teachers are specialists; 3) the nature of secondary school geography is extremely complex and broadly conceived by many geography teachers as cutting across the physical and social sciences; and 4) geography is taught because ignorance of the world is considered inexcusable. The appraisal concludes that geography introduces students to a systematically organized picture of the world. (Author/SJM)